The Psychology of Fashion
The Psychology of Everything Series, Routledge UK
“Fashion is about something that comes from within you”
– RALPH LAUREN
Introduction
The why and how of psychology of fashion
Find out why psychology matters in fashion and how psychologists derive and use evidence to understand and predict human behaviour.
Wellbeing in Fashion
Mental health of designers and models
Clothing serves many purposes and can influence our mental health and psychological wellbeing. Read about the mental health of designers and models.
Body image and 'beauty'
Why we struggle with how we look
Find out how increased exposure to fashion imagery and social media can lead to appearance concerns, risky behaviours and eating disorders.
Fashion, self and identity
Fashion allows us to be who we (think we) want to be
We cannot separate clothing from the self and identity because what we wear is an outward display of our self and our identity. As our second skin, fashion is psychology.
Fashion consumption
Buying, wearing and disposing of fashion
Understand the psychology behind buying, using and disposing of fashion and why wanting what we have is preferable to having what we want. Can the fashion industry become more sustainable?
Fashion and behaviour
Why we wear what we wear
We are motivated to belong to social groups and use clothing as social identification. We can also use our clothing to empower us and even to enhance our thinking.
The Psychology of Fashion (Routledge, 2018)
This new book offers an insightful introduction to the exciting and dynamic world of fashion in relation to human behaviour, from how clothing can affect our cognitive processes to the way retail environments manipulate consumer behaviour. The book explores many issues within the fashion industries including how fashion design can impact healthy body image, how psychology can inform a more sustainable perspective on the production and disposal of clothing, and why we develop certain shopping behaviours.
See the Psychology of Everything press release here.
Click on the image below to buy a copy of the book from Amazon UK.
The beginning
Becoming Professor of Psychology for Fashion brought my experience, skills and passions together. It allowed me to pioneer a new discipline and establish the world’s first Masters programmes to apply the scientific study of human behaviour within the context of fashion. This book, The Psychology of Fashion, has been a labour of love. Enjoy!
The purpose
The Psychology of Fashion and psychology.fashion bring to the fore matters that exist within the fashion industry that are psychological in nature. Both aim to empower consumers while supporting the industry. Psychologists take an evidence based approach to understanding human behaviour. They are able to design interventions to change behaviour and analyse, interpret and evaluate outcomes reliably and validly.
What’s next?
The industry faces many challenges that impact individuals, communities and societies across the globe. Awareness raising alone has served its purpose. It’s time to act. There has never been a more important time to apply psychology within the fashion industry.
What are readers saying?
This is an amazing book. It is so well written, and reading about psychology and fashion together is very interesting. Professor Mair has written about the ‘influence of fashion on body image’, and ‘fashion and behaviour’, just two of the chapters which are so interesting. Definitely worth buying, it suits everyone.
This brilliant book is an absolute must; it is easy to read and well written. A page-turner and eye opener, essential reading, whether you are a student or a consumer. It discusses amongst many other topics, fashion’s role with regards to our mental health. It looks at the wellbeing of the designers through to the suppliers; and it suggests that how we feel about our ‘own’ identity, can influence the wider net of fashion consumption and fashion’s consumption. Each chapter has a clear, concise summary which makes this book an excellent tool for using as a reference to go back to again and again. Ending with a conclusion, a knowledge, which leaves the reader feeling empowered, that even as individuals, it is possible to make a difference.
This wonderful review was posted on my Instagram page, DrMairFashionPsychologist, by Dr Emra Suleyman @psychologyandstyle. Thank you Emra!
We can help you in any project
COMBINING DEEP INSIGHTS FROM PSYCHOLOGY and FASHION WE BRING CREATIVITY, INNOVATION & SOLUTIONS TO YOUR BUSINESS